Juan Carlos Araque, Ph.D.

Read What Families Want by Wadsworth and Reamley.

Write no more than two paragraphs on the following prompt:

How should we redesign schools to fit changing demographics?

Optional:

Respond to your colleague's contribution to the Wiki.

The contents in the assigned article are no different than many articles that can be found in various scholarly journals and forms of printed media. After several readings of this short article and thinking through the statistics of this public opinion research, this educator proposes some ideas for all readers to consider and debate. Finding the flaws within an established, public institution, such as public education, is not a challenging task. In the current educational system, educational opportunities are made available to all students; therefore, how stakeholders—the general public—choose to utilize these available opportunities bears more scrutiny than blaming an already overburden institution and relegating it to more federal and state legislation. Peter Irons’ book “Jim Crow’s Children: The Broken Promise of the Brown Decision, unequivocally details how the ruling in the Brown v. Board of Education failed to deliver its full intent; therefore, minority groups around the country, since that ruling, have continually become victims, thus, the evidence can be seen in the high dropout rates within these communities.

On the other hand, if educators need to rethink and redesign the educational system, parents and their involvement should be the focal point because they do not know how to maneuver through the complexities of the educational system. Parents need to be empowered on how to use the numerous opportunities that are available at a public school. An education does not terminate at the end of the school day; however, it must continue at home with sufficient parental support and guidance. This support can be presented at monthly evening seminars that cover the following topics over a period of time:
1) providing parents with the necessary tools to help their children with homework
2) developing meaningful discipline in the home
3) understanding the function of the counseling center and its resources for graduation requirements, financial aid, college requirements, etc.
4) community centers that provide additional educational opportunities
5) accessing public libraries as a resource center.
Parents meet over a period of time to discuss their progress and develop skills that are associated with the abovementioned topics. In a sense, they are modeling educational skills from which their children can benefit.

At some point, parents must take some of the responsibility in sustaining the educational process of their children outside of the school day. If parents’ educational skills are weak, then an educational system, such as public education, can provide these skills to ensure not only student success but also empower parents to be a positive source of support for their children.

Leslie Benjamin
Erin Rosselli

I agree with the article in the sense that there is no need to “redesign” schools to fit changing demographics. “Instead, we need to ensure … that every child attends a school with strong academic programs, qualified and motivated teachers, and a respectful and nurturing environment.” I feel this begins at the district level and then trickles down to each student. The superintendent’s view must be to build a strong foundation for all students at every school and have a plan in place to achieve this goal. Then, each school administrator would need to adapt this plan to their individual site and identify the steps needed to achieve the goal. This attitude and goal-oriented approach would then need to be communicated to the teachers, where they would then identify the steps they need to take to reach the goal. The article detailed how important teachers are to student success, because it highlighted the ability for a teacher to spark interest in a student even in subject matter that the student described as hating. Finally, this would need to be explained to the students, so they would take ownership of the goal. The students would then identify steps they need to take to reach this goal. Many students stated they could be trying harder at school. By setting a goal, with counselor or teacher guidance, they would have something specific to strive for and they would be making a personal connection with a teacher or counselor. This connection would give them a way to have their questions answered about coursework needed to reach a diploma and go on to higher education. This would personalize the learning environment and strengthen relationships. This in turn would allow teachers and counselors to view students as individuals, and then the teachers and counselors would be more personally invested in the students they worked with during the goal setting.

Also, the inequities between schools come down to money and morale. Adequate funding must be made available for all schools to ensure each school has materials, adequate environments, and safety measures in place. The safety of students and teachers on a campus is paramount, and I personally don’t have the solution for that problem without actually being in a setting where I can see what works and doesn’t work. Of course, this should be the primary concern of every administrator, but I have no experience in an environment where gangs, guns, and drugs are an issue. Teacher morale and the quality of the teaching staff need to be addressed. Teachers who work at dangerous schools should receive “hazard pay,” but this is not going to keep a teacher there for very long if the conditions are not conducive to student learning. The conditions must ultimately change first, a supportive administrator must be in place, and teachers must be seeing success in their students to stay in this type of environment. If these three things began to happen, the school would begin to look as if it were “redesigned.”
*Tori Lee

One of the main problems in school’s today is that the curriculum is so driven by the state test scores, that students who do not fit the mold of the “average” student whom the test is designed to assess, fall below in their scores, get frustrated and tune out (often becoming behavior problems)—or worse, drop out. Most of the time these less successful students are those who are in a minority group, such as Hispanics or African Americans. Therefore, part of the “redesigning” of schools needs to begin with the redesigning of No Child Left Behind (NCLB). With NCLB designed the way it is, many districts do not want low achieving students in their schools, and even try to establish policies to push them out, because it affects their API. Thus, students who may need additional help often feel abandoned or not cared about, rather than embraced and encouraged. Additionally, NCLB often makes school so boring for some students, that they opt to leave, rather than sit through a seemingly irrelevant class. Furthermore, with many schools focusing solely on college-prep classes, there is a real disconnect for students who are not college bound. Consequently, behavior problems arise in the classroom because of the disconnect and lack of relevant hands-on learning. Studies show that many students do not learn well by just seeing material in text form; when they are not understanding the material, they are not engaged, and they tune out, out of frustration. Therefore, if NCLB were redesigned to accept multiple measures of assessment, rather than a one-size-fits-all one day exam that often sets up minority students for failure, teachers could put creativity back into the classroom, and students would become more engaged as they learned information that is relevant to their future and their lives. They also would be assessed by other means—means in which they could be much more successful on than a standardized test.

On the classroom level, there are several things that a school can do to ensure the success of all students, especially those at poverty level, low achievers, and ethnic minorities. First of all, it is essential that teachers who usually teach Honors and AP classes are also assigned the classes with the students at lower levels of achievement. These students are just as deserving of a challenging and rigorous education that places high expectations on them. When given the opportunity to rise to the challenge, most students will. It is when they feel defeated because they are in the “dummy” classes, or are given a teacher who is just biding time until retirement, they tune out and become behavior problems. In addition, schools need to seek extra funding for career technical education, so that students can be gaining hands-on experience that is practical and motivates them to move forward in their education, whether that be at a traditional four year college or a technical school. Furthermore, class sizes need to be reduced to no more than twenty-five to thirty students so that struggling students can get the additional assistance that they need. Presently, with upwards of forty-five students in a class, the teacher spends so much time trying to maintain order in the classroom, that very little time, if any, can be spent giving one-on-one time to students. Lastly, intervention needs to begin as soon as there is any sign of a student beginning to miss class, failing to turn in homework, or becoming a potential behavior problem. Schools need to establish an intervention team (counselors, teachers, administrators, mentors, parents) who will show concern, find out the cause behind the behavior, and give one-on-one time to those students who may otherwise fall through the cracks or be on their way to dropping out of school down the road because they are already beginning to disconnect. For example, at the high school level that may mean having a designated counselor and intervention team specifically for incoming Freshmen, who keep an eye out for struggling students and immediately do whatever it takes (in a positive, rather than punitive, fashion) to get those students connected and on the right path for graduation. This may all seem ideal, but it is possible with the appropriate teachers, counselors, parents, mentors, administrators, and district personnel who recognize that the low achievers and minority students are just as important as the students who are already doing well and keeping the test scores high.

Sue SinghAccording to Horace Mann, “A human being is not attaining his full heights until he is educated”. Education as the “route to a good life”, continues to lead the thinking process of parents across the country. Despite this educational bent, drop out rates exist at alarming rates and inequities in educational delivery continue to plague our country. In the article, the authors emphatically stress the correlation between high expectations and increased academic performance in students. It is imperative for schools to promote learning resiliency and academic rigor while steering clear from watered down curriculum and low expectations for culturally diverse students. It is critical for all stakeholders of education, including students, parents, teachers, site administrators, district and state level officials to engage in reflective and frank dialogue on mutual concerns.Redesigning of American schools will take a reorganization of our thought and belief process. This progression would entail all the stakeholders communicating reflectively and critically about their goals and aspirations. Ideally parental involvement and ownership with a positive stimulus towards shared decision making is the key to redesigning our educational system. Besides the parent component, we need to staff our school with quality educators who are professionally supported by administrators and state officials. High expectations coupled with a conducive learning environment is also vital to improved educational performance. Children deserve high quality schools that are structured for success, lead by teachers who are provided the professional support and relevant professional development opportunities , to take on the challenges of teaching. Much of our learning in schools is test driven. Students need to understand the purpose in education beyond merely performing well on tests. Reflectively thinking, I feel that both teachers and students seem to have deviated from the golden path of “learning for the sake of learning” and allowed themselves to be driven and dominated by high stakes tests and the power of “scores”. Educational practices need to be tailored to meet the unique needs of learners, besides just being an assessment bandwagon.

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If I had to look at the success or failure of the educational system, I would find it a daunting task. Is it the educational system or the
assumption by many parents that education is the function of the educator? In most circumstances education is there for the taking by the students. Creative teachers find ways to reach all students in the classroom. The ability to become creative on the part of a teacher is not a function of legislation, I believe.
Exposing teachers to the awareness of diversity is one thing but no one can make a teacher apply the skills they hear about. That is a matter of the individual to open their minds and hearts to helping each and every student no matter of their race, religion or economic status.
As an administrator my position on exposing parent and other stakeholders to opportunities for their students is for me to become creative and looking for ways to make the community aware of my schools contributions to that community.
Paul Pabian

Katie Hernandez
I don’t believe that we must redesign the schools to fit changing demographics. What we must do is redesign the relationship between school staff and families. Although it was rarely addressed outright in this article, I felt that it was the most prevalent theme. I often hear from teachers what parents are not doing and from parents what the schools are not doing. We need to see the students as our students. Their success in school and in life is a shared responsibility. It is the job of the school to teach the standards and ensure that all measures are taken to allow each student access to those standards. It is the job of the parents to adequately prepare their students for school. It is difficult to have Kindergartners “Read simple one-syllable and high-frequency words” by the end of the year if they came in not knowing how to read and/or write their own name.
I realize that I must sound a little defensive and I guess I am. I felt like the article held teachers to a different standard than parents. For example, on page 23, the article stated that “[i]f an adult were forced to work in an environment where disrespect, bad language, fighting, drug and alcohol abuse, and other misbehaviors were inflicted by a relative few, but tolerated by management, most of us would consider it a ‘hostile workplace.’” I agree that this is an unacceptable environment for learning, but it is also an unfit way to live in your own home. Unfortunately, this is true for some of our students. What needs to happen is that parents and teachers need to be committed to helping students learn, no matter what their situation. If parents and teachers worked together and truly held high expectations for our students and were truly committed to helping students succeed (something that I think often gets just lip service), demographics would play a less powerful role than they currently do. This would cause teachers to enjoy teaching more and students to enjoy learning more.
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Parents want the same thing for their children, a happy, healthy, and safe environment for them to grow. However, along the way barriers may block the way. First, as educators our job must extend beyond the student. We must help parents develop a vision for their child. To develop that vision, families must look beyond daily living from day to day. They must develop a vision for their family and an action plan. As educators, we cannot educate the student alone. Community and parent programs must be developed. In order for any student to achieve, regardless of socio-economic background or ethnic background, they need a strong support system. The action plan has to be more than “lip service,” such as, “go do your homework” or “study hard, so you can get a good job.” Students hear those words, but do not understand the meaning. Instead, think of an action plan that includes:
1. Structured homework periods.
2. Family trips to the library and community events.
3. Families working on the homework together.
4. Families reading books together.
5. Families exploring together, such as taking hikes and helping at community events together.

When students feel valued, they share the responsibility for their own learning. Families and students need a sense of belonging. That is where the school becomes a community center.

The schools can help by celebrating the role of diverse cultures in our community and their contribution. Through community events, diverse cultures can support and help one another build one larger united culture through understanding and a common goal.

In addition, families must identify those barriers that are specific to their community and take action to overcome those barriers. Many times those barriers may include work schedules and job commitments for single parent families, two income families, or caring for elderly parents. Perhaps, we need to seek the support of our senior family members to guide our students.

Tired and unmotivated teachers also need a renewed sense of direction and a sense of value. A school leader can guide them to try new approaches to teaching without dismissing essential teaching tools of the past.
Donna ObleaShirley Doi
The article indicates strongly that there are many critical steps that need to be taken to ensure, “determination and hard work can produce impressive results,” but we need to provide, “excellent education for all students, we need to make changes.” As educational leaders we need to see the whole picture and aspire to make changes from within to help support all students. We need to look at the curriculum for diversity and delivery. We need to look at creating whole community learners and involve the staff, student and community. Changes need to be made from within and from the outside.
The research articles from, John Miller, “Engaging the Whole Child,” (2007) indicated that we as educational leaders need to, “listen and cultivate dialogue,” with all learning community members and set our priorities to ensure academic success for all students. As leaders we need to set a curriculum of academic rigor, provide workshops for staff, and make the connections for all community learners. If your school already has taken steps to build these foundations then perhaps the critical steps will be from the outside.
I wholeheartedly agree with the statement from the article, “And listening to the students, parents, educators who are closest to the problems is a crucial first step (33).” This would be the key to redesigning or refocusing energies in schools to fit changing demographics. So often we jump in immediately and try to provide a “quick-fix’ for problems. Schools need to take a step back and involve these three crucial participants, students, parents and educators, in the process. This participation begins with a needs analysis, but continues with planning, implementation, evaluation, and consequently, improved implementation. The issues to address are endless-discipline, dropout rates, teacher education, parent education, motivation, high expectations, etc. However, without sincerely including a school’s constituents and valuing their input, I fear that trying refocus energies would be in vain.
Laura Dale-Pash

Amy Ensley

Wadsworth and Hamill Remaley’s article What Families Want makes an excellent point about changing demographics in schools. They state “…education policymakers should not necessarily redesign education to suit changing demographics. Instead, we need to ensure once and for all that every child attends a school with strong academic programs, qualified and motivated teachers, and a respectful and nurturing environment” (OCDE 30). Education does not need more standards and testing, but rather a deep rooted change in the culture of the school.

The energy of a school community needs to focus and work hard to ensure the school itself is built on a firm foundation. First, students should not feel that a lack of money will keep them from going to college. Counselors need to hold community meetings with parents and students to show them how to fill out scholarships, grants, and the reality of attending a city college is within their grasp. Second, class size reduction should be fought for at all grade levels. Smaller class sizes will allow teachers to keep better order in the class and effect more change on students. Third, all teachers should be on board to holding ALL students to high expectations. Teachers need to be motivating and energetic for every single student that walks through their door. Finally, it is important that the school administration listens to student, parent, and teacher concerns. Holding monthly forums to discuss issues and share information about the school will help mold the school into a tight-knit community, thus starting to achieve a firmer foundation.

What Familes Want ReflectionAmy Sylvester

In reading What Families Want, I came away with a sense of wanting to know more of the story. It’s easy to quote statistics but there was no background information, no points of comparison, and so for me this could easily have been a letter to the editor of the local newspaper to complain about what is wrong with education today. And of course, what is wrong is that teachers don’t hold students accountable, teachers don’t teach the standards, teachers aren’t equitable, teachers, teachers, teachers, teachers…
But what about parents, how much time do they spend educating their child? Teachers have them for perhaps 1,100 hours a year leaving over 7,500 hours a year when children are not in school. What is being done to further their educational growth during that time? One of the statistics mentioned in the article states that Black and Hispanic parents are not satisfied with the safety at their school, yet in the same paragraph 40% of Black parents feel their child was unfairly disciplined. The underlying message to me is that all these parents seem to think that it is someone else’s child that is the discipline issue, their child would never fight or bring a weapon to school. Yet someone’s child is causing the disruption. And why is it the teacher’s role to maintain discipline in a clearly volatile situation, I know that crowd control was not part of my credential training.
So where do we go to redesign schools to fit changing demographics? I truly think it is a deeper problem, how do we make each member in our society accountable for the success of each child. Clearly parents need to be a bigger part of the equation, they need to see that there are viable and valuable stakeholders in the educational process. In the perfect world we would grab a hold of those parents as their first child enters kindergarten and gently coach them on how to navigate the system and to be a part of the system. It would be wonderful for administrators from kindergarten through twelfth grade to work collaboratively to offer “user” friendly parent education programs to make them feel as they are part of the educational system not an outsider. Of course, the front line representative for making parents feel as though they are part of the system is the teacher. A teacher can literally and figuratively open their doors to their classroom or they can close them. As administrators we can make it an expectation of opening our doors, throwing out the welcome mat and aggressively educating parents as to how to be a part of the system, this would be a first step in redesigning schools to fit changing demographics.
Raymond Crutcher “What Families Want”

How should we refocus our energies on redesigning schools to fit changing demographics? This is a good question that will not be addressed in this assigned article. Paragraph #2 states “ … education policymakers should not necessarily redesign education to suit changing demographics.” The authors’ closing paragraph is that “ … the real imperative is to ensure that, finally, minority students get the same high-quality education as kids (students) in mainly white and more affluent neighborhoods.” I would put forth that the issue was how to ensure the best teaching practices are brought to bear within the changing demographic of a community, or in the entrenched community that is not changing yet seems to fall far short of the quality of the education process.

The major influencing factor that seems to lead to a general malaise is a lack of communication surrounding some major issues:
• discipline needs for an efficacious classroom – issues of fairness, diligent preparations by teacher and student, a teacher disciplining themselves to expand their knowledge of the craft, and students fully committed to increasing a mastery of a subject;
• the roles that teachers, administrators, parents and students bring to the process that impact the end result – commitment, opportunities to excel within best practices, feedback from all stakeholders regarding the process in place, observed, and malleable boundaries that can be repositioned as needed when change for what ever reason has happened. With an intentional platform for communicating and adapting, what goes on in the classroom becomes empowering for teachers and students alike. To have a teacher focused on the teaching and to have students focused on learning they both want for each other is a powerful antidote to a school community feeling distressed at a changing demographic that cannot be dictated or controlled.

At this time I do not feel that a complete redesign of our schools is necessary. Instead I feel similar to the author of the article in that “The real imperative is to insure that…minority students get the same high-quality education as kids in mainly white and more affluent neighborhoods”. One way to do that is to “level” the playing field by ensuring that schools in less affluent areas receive adequate funding to supply books, materials and maintain the school property. As administrators we are charged with these challenges and thus must find creative ways to increase community involvement and look at alternative funding resources such as grants, and fundraising opportunities. The second area that needs to be looked at is finding new ways to motivate students to take charge of their education, to give them the understanding that the knowledge is there for the taking, they must then decide whether they will accept the challenge. This does not mean that as educators we are off the hook our challenge is to provide them not only with the opportunities to learn but the reasons why the learning has value. This includes providing them with information on alternative funding resources for students who feel college is out of reach, and providing them with positive role models who can demonstrate the value of continuing with their education.

Juleen Faur

Heidi Olshan
Perhaps it is the end of the school year fatigue which left me less than enthusiastic with the article What Families Want. The challenges which face public schools in California today are far more complex than the simple statistical analysis Wadsworth and Remaley represent in their article. I certainly agree that all students regardless of race or economic status, are entitled to a quality education. The author's assertion that "The United States has made only a halfhearted attempt to provide equal education opportunities for all." (OCDE 30), seemed unfair and a misrepresentation of the efforts of education professionals.

There is a disconnect between providing equal educational experiences for all and providing a rich educational experience for students with vastly different educational needs. NCLB is pushing us towards a "one size fits all" version of education. I agree with many of my colleague's writings regarding the need for additional parent support in the educational process. There seems to be a slow continuous shifting of responsibility away from the family and onto the public school over the last decade which is changing the very culture of our educational institutions. Schools are increasingly being asked to "parent" children; educators must deal with not only teaching, they are expected to work in communities with fractured family systems, gang violence, drugs, a myriad of medical and mental health issues, with little financial resources to support their efforts. The debillitating effect of this environment on learning is obvious to all and reflected in poor standardized test scores.

If the public school system is to survive it cannot be expected to work as a separate entity without resources from the government and a collaboration with the community at large. If "parents from diverse economic and cultural backgrounds value education and look to schools as the key to preparing young people for their futures..." (OCDE 30) then it is imperative that they share in that effort to ensure the survival of public schools.

Julie Rosenthal
I also agree with the article. I took exception with the points of view on how families were divided by ethnicity. In special education I am so busy looking at the make-up of the student that I often do not recognize the race. I wonder if taht is really important, consider if we are all equal as the constitution states and we believe in equality for all then where does the responsibility remain. I suggest that we as educators must come together as a family unit. The school and family must build a team relationship. On a personal note I have found great efficacy in creating a family based educational blance. What does that look like you might ask and how would the curriculum relfect this methodology? Well, do we not expect our parents to teach and help with homework, do we not expect our parent to monitor and drive students to the library or purchase computers for furthering the educaitonal mind of their youngster? I suggest that schools create a liason program whereby parents from all backgrounds can enrich and learn the skills necessary to become productive assistant to the educational regime. This would incur some planning and team work on the school's part but once in place a powerful team would be created. The school would need to consider the following:
1. Educational backgrounds of the parents as it relates to literacy competency
2. Survey of their understanding of what it means to be an active team member of a school partnership.
On another personal note, I once visited Huntsville,Alabama in the hopes of relocating. I was extremely impressed with the school district. In the Huntsville schools it is mandatory that the parents volunteer and if you are a working parent they find something for you to do but not volunteering is a direct violation of their vision statement. This statement clearly states that all parents will become active team members and play a role in their child's education by volunteering in some form in the district. I found that to be very empowering.

Steve Thornhill - "What Families Want"
I believe the article stimulated a thought process, but I am unsure if it addressed the true challenges we face every day as educators. As I read through the article, I kept wondering why it only spoke about the Hispanic and Black minority. Only in one of the reports, "Life After High School" were the Asian community a part of the study and in the study 85% of the Asian community felt "people respect you more when they know you've graduated from college." It leads me to belive the article when it says, "we need to ensure once and for all that every child attends a school with strong academic programs, qualified and motivated teachers, and a respectful and nurturing enevironment." I belive the Asian community looks at education differently then other cultures because they have a different vision for their own futures.

The article talks about the struggles faced by minorties when they try to continue their education. 95 % of the white population say they will find a way to go to college as where only 45% of hispanic and 46% of the black culture feel the same. I tend to disagree with the reason because poor is poor. If I can not find the means to pay for my tutition then I will need to find assistance. It seems minority cultures have the same opportunities to receive aid as any other populations. If we have motivated teachers and provide a nurturing culture within the school I belive we could change the perspective of the young generation, no matter where they come from. All the cutures speak about the importance of education, but not all have the same expectations. If we want to raise the vision of the young, then we need to start educating the families as well as the teahers. "If we build it they will come" a quote in the movie Fields of Dreams. We need to build a environment that teachers, staff, and students as well as their families want to be a part of.The article sure raises a lot of questions, but we surely won't answer them in a four page article.

Holly Goossens
After reading the article, by Wadsworth and Remaley, I found myself thinking about change and the current book I am reading. The New Meaning of Educational Change extends Fullan’s remarkable efforts to synthesize and make useful what is know about successful educational change processes. Should we rethink public education? Absolutely, but knowing change is rooted in action. The core question is how to combine meaning and action. We need to consider what drives education and the changes that need to take place at the various levels. The current reality is that the NCLB mandates have contributed to more uncertainty. We are leaving students behind and it is obvious in the remarks and data found in the article. Test scores are important because they give us information, but we know that one test does not give us the entire picture of an individual student. Is there a way to look at more than one piece of data to determine the fate of a school and district. Are we working harder and not smarter? We are what I think is referred to as D.R.I.P, data rich and information poor, leaving many districts in a state of urgency. How can we take all this data from tests that we are requiring teachers to do and use it in beneficial ways? How do we hold all stakeholders accountable for the success of our children? How do we build a sense of community that brings all demographics to the table and find our greatest area of need and begin the work at all levels?
In Michael Fullan’s book, he points out that that “breakthrough forces in educational reform require some bold experiments that generate new powerful forces” and it will be a lot harder that some think. We need to focus our energy on people who can make things happen. That would include all stakeholders or “shareholders”. We share the responsibility. The invitation becomes:
1. Understanding your roles and possibilities to grow reflected from successful examples
2. Understanding the roles of others and develop relationships
3. Understand the big picture and place your work in the “context of society.”
We are in this together and need to build that community and get the work done.
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Trish Walsh "What Families Want" 5/2/08If we are to think of redesigning schools to fit changing demographics, we must refocus our energy on our consumers. We need input from families, students and teachers. The top-down, bureaucratic decision-making model used in education is not the smartest way to make decisions regarding 21st century schools and students. All aspects of society value standards and testing and see the need for them in education. However, a narrow focus on standards and testing alone does not allow us to truly reach all students from diverse backgrounds with a variety of needs.

I echo the sentiment that the top priority in funding should be reducing class size. Smaller class sizes allow for more attention paid to all students. Teachers can focus more on meeting diverse needs and spending time motivating students in a more personal way. Time should also be spent communicating with and providing resources to families. Resources, such as The 10 Commandments of Education, can put families and teachers on the same page in terms of holding students to high standards and helping kids along the path to success.

Natalia De la Rosa

After reading the article I have to agree with the position taken by the authors. Personally I do no believe that we need to redesign education to fit the ever changing demographics of this century. We do need however to look at different strategies to help our communities increase their interest in school for students to be successful. We should refocus our energies by increasing the value placed on education and post-secondary education by our community. By reaching them in different levels such as showing them that the school believes in them, providing constant literature to students as well to parents in their language preferably and conducting in-services about post-school opportunities and networking.

I have to agree with Trish about using the 10 commandments of education as a resource for our parents and educators.